Woman Washing Her Hair, Circa 1915–17

Nadelman made relief sculpture from the beginning of his career and at least five were included in the 1909 exhibition at the Galerie Druet in Paris. Relief is quite different from sculpture in the round. Because it is always attached to some type of background, it approximates painting in some ways. As a result, artists were able to “adopt pictorial effects inconceivable for sculpture in the round.” For example, in Woman Washing Her Hair, the stand for the water basin is carved extremely flatly, while the bowl protrudes significantly. Similarly, the locks of hair cascading down the figure’s back are also thinly carved. In each case, the differences in the dimensionality of the relief imply depth – those in shallow relief are further back in space, while passages in high relief are closer to the viewer.

Thematically, Women Washing Her Hair is related to works Nadelman made for the beauty cosmetic queen, Helena Rubinstein. These include a set of four terra cotta figures, who are also engaged in the “timeless grooming activities traditionally called the ‘toilette’ – bathing, coiffing their hair, and arranging their costume – all subjects appropriate to a modern salon of beautification.” An additional plaster relief made for Rubinstein, Two Nudes (Spring, ca. 1915), displays a similar mood and subject as one woman attends to the hair of another. Stylistically, the reliefs can also be compared to a third example, Woman with a Dog (ca. 1914–15), which depicts a poodle being fed by a reclining nude woman, who is attended by a servant. All three reliefs mentioned above are comparable stylistically; the highest planes of relief are made from tubular and spherical forms, the long-haired figures are elongated and elegant, the overall atmosphere feels ‘ancient’, and the sculpted planes vary in depth. Woman Washing her Hair and Woman with a Dog are set in classical looking boudoirs. The intimate location underscores the sexy, voyeuristic edge to viewing these private moments of nude females.